Back Talk

by Matt Frankel

Overview

From an award-winning writer, a stunning collection of stories about women’s unexpressed desires and needs, and the unexpected ways they resurface
 
“Deceptively quiet but packs a powerful punch . . . The best collection I’ve read in years, from a phenomenal new talent.” —Celeste Ng
 
“Thank God, a collection of stories about women who don't hate themselves, don't hate other women, don't hate their bodies, don't hate their husbands, or even their ex-husbands . . . women who are simply, like me, trying to figure out what it means to be alive, to be in love, to be daughters, parents, siblings, wives, citizens, human beings.” —Eileen Pollack
 
In “Floor Plans,” a woman at the end of her marriage tests her power when she inadvertently befriends the neighbor trying to buy her apartment. In “Appetite,” a sixteen-year old grieving her mother’s death experiences first love and questions how much more heartbreak she and her family can endure. In “Dinosaurs,” a recent widower and a young babysitter help each other navigate how much they have to give—and how much they can take—from the people around them.
 
Through stories that are at once empathetic and unexpected, these women and girls defiantly push the boundaries between selfishness and self-possession. With a fresh voice and bold honesty, Back Talk examines how narrowly our culture allows women to express their desires.

Customer Reviews

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781524705190
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/06/2018
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	755 KB

About the Author

Danielle Lazarin’s short stories have won grants from New York Foundation for the Arts and the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, the Glimmer Train Family Matters Award, and Hopwood Awards. She is a graduate of the writing programs of Oberlin College and the University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program. She lives in her native New York City with her husband and daughters.

Editorial Reviews

★ 10/23/2017
Lazarin’s exceptional debut collection digs deep into the lives of women, telling complex stories of loss, hope, and joy. In “Hide and Seek,” a young mother aims to give her two daughters a happy childhood by moving them to the suburbs, only to discover the dangers that stretch into their new neighborhood. “Lovers’ Lookout” concerns a newly single woman in San Francisco, who meets a man while out on a run and toys with the idea of sleeping with him. “American Men in Paris I Did Not Love” takes a clever structure—each section focuses on one man who lusts after the story’s protagonist—to spin a tale detailing the strain of long-distance relationships. In “Floor Plans,” a friendship forms between two women as one tries to buy the other’s apartment, leading to a struggle for power. Equally effective are Lazarin’s narratives about adolescents. The title story, one of the collection’s shortest, powerfully conveys the experience of seeing a moment of youthful pleasure transform into a gossiped-about scarlet letter, while in “Gone,” two teens create a list of girls in their neighborhood who have died as they face their own struggles with boys and school. Lazarin’s work is confident and exhilarating; this auspicious collection is uniformly excellent. Agent: Julie Barer, the Book Group. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Named one of the most anticipated books of 2018 by Esquire and The Millions

“Long live the short story, as long as writers like Lazarin are here to keep the form fresh. . . . Short stories are like sideways glances or overheard whispers that become more, and Lazarin makes us believe there’s worth in stories that we can steal moments to experience.”
—The Millions

“The women and girls in Danielle Lazarin’s deeply affecting debut story collection are desperate for connection, whether to family members or friends or acquaintances thrown together by circumstance. There are also a few love interests, but this is not a book about romantic love—it’s about the loneliness that is a companion to so much of the love we undertake.”
—Esquire

“Lazarin’s exceptional debut collection digs deep into the lives of women, telling complex stories of loss, hope, and joy. . . . [Back Talk] is confident and exhilarating; this auspicious collection is uniformly excellent.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Brilliant and tender . . . With poignant imagery and a fresh voice, Lazarin portrays these women honestly and relatably. Her exceptional craftsmanship speaks to the heart, as she paints these tales with empathy and a compassion that extends to all humankind.”
—Booklist (starred review)

“Sensitive, intricate, and quietly powerful, Lazarin's stories give voice to women learning to live on their own terms.”
—Kirkus (starred review)

One of Library Journal’s New Writers To Watch

“Danielle Lazarin’s Back Talk is deceptively quiet but packs a powerful punch—much like the girls and women in its pages. The stories in this collection batter at the boundaries of female desire—not just for sex, but for intimacy, for visibility, for agency. They talk back to the idea that stories about women are ‘domestic,’ burrowing deep to find wildness and a smoldering fury beneath. The best collection I’ve read in years, from a phenomenal new talent.”
—Celeste Ng, New York Times bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere

“The stories in Back Talk are not only fierce and unflinching in their clear-eyed portrayal of women and girls, they are also tender and compassionate, imbued with a deep longing. Lazarin is a sophisticated writer and her remarkable debut offers us subtle but profound truths about growing up, moving forward, and finding ourselves.”
—Edan Lepucki, New York Times bestselling author of California

“I fell in love with these elegant, beguiling tales. They’re about young women, but they are for everyone, whatever gender, whatever age, so universal is their poignant take on life and loving and loneliness, too. Reading Lazarin's writing is like having a great friend in the room, telling you something that you know you need to hear, and telling it to you brilliantly.”
—Robin Black, nationally bestselling author of Life Drawing

“These are wonderful stories—sparkling, witty, and tender, riding that sweet spot between urbane and vulnerable, between hilarity and heartbreak—all those impossible contradictions that remind us of what love is like. Lazarin’s astonishing insight and craftsmanship put me in mind of short story masters like Beattie and Baxter. I think she’s destined for the big leagues.”
—Dan Chaon, New York Times bestselling author of Ill Will

“Back Talk offers a kaleidoscopic portrait of the contemporary family in a state of creative destruction, flying apart and simultaneously reconstituting itself in new forms. Danielle Lazarin guides us through the varied permutations of her extended, blended families with insightful wit, surpassing empathy and wry wisdom.”
—Peter Ho Davies, author of The Fortunes

“Misfits and mess-ups, dreamers and delinquents, kids chafing at adolescence and adults failing at parenthood—it’s easy to see yourself in Danielle Lazarin’s characters. But these stories, like all good stories, aren't a mirror: they're a window that shows us the whole world.”
—Rumaan Alam, author of Rich and Pretty

“I absolutely loved this book—from the first page to the last, this collection is stunning for its insight into the lives of young women, revelatory for its finely tuned prose, and unforgettable for its humor and tenderness. I will return to these stories again and again. I envy the reader who gets to discover Danielle Lazarin’s work.”
—Julie Buntin, author of Marlena

“Smart, sharp, well-paced stories—worlds of their own that circle life and loss with humor, wit, and sparkling intelligence.”
—Megan Mayhew Bergman, author of Birds of a Lesser Paradise and Almost Famous Women

“Thank God, a collection of stories about women who don't hate themselves, don't hate other women, don't hate their bodies, don't hate their husbands, or even their ex-husbands, don't hate their sisters, their mothers, their fathers, their children. Women who sometimes choose to have sex and sometimes choose not to. Women who are simply, like me, trying to figure out what it means to be alive, to be in love, to be daughters, parents, siblings, wives, citizens, human beings. I hope Danielle Lazarin writes a million more stories like the ones in Back Talk so I can keep reading her work forever.”
—Eileen Pollack, author of A Perfect Life

From the Publisher

★ 2017-12-24
This exquisite debut short story collection speaks to the ways women and girls define themselves and delineate their paths.A teenage girl acclimating to her mother's death and its effect on her family leaps into the bracing waters of first love. A woman absorbing the end of her marriage forges a friendship with the woman next door whose choices and losses shed light on her own. Another young woman takes in a boyfriend's departure by connecting with a stranger and taking stock of the things her ex has taught her, the bits of knowledge he has left behind, and the aspects of herself that remain. A teenager and the widower whose young children she babysits connect across the empty space his wife has left behind. The protagonists of Lazarin's stories—daughters, mothers, siblings, girlfriends, wives—are gauging their strengths and soft spots, the ways in which they are independent and intertwined with those around them, their appetites for and aversions to risk and heartache, the truths they choose to know and those they cannot escape. These young women and girls—many of them white, middle-class New Yorkers, some living in the city, others outside of it—have their own particular interests and quirks, their own experiences and inclinations, their own losses and hopes with which to contend. Yet readers may see in them glimpses of their own stories and struggles, their own choices about how and when to act. "It's my hope that this book adds to a conversation about the importance of women's stories, of the domestic, of the subtle and often unspoken ways women care for each other and ourselves," Lazarin writes in the advance galley of the book. Mission accomplished.Sensitive, intricate, and quietly powerful, Lazarin's stories give voice to women learning to live on their own terms.

Kirkus Review